A guy at work was telling me that 570 KVI had a story about a dad who took his kid fishing on the Snohomish river and got ticketed for using live bait, he was fishing with worms.

Anyone have the link online to this story.

jeezzzz hope they dont catch me sturgeon fishin down by the sloughs then cause about 5 nitecrawlers work great.
mike

This story ran in our local paper (Woodinville/Duvall). I guess it got pretty out of hand -- the prosecutor initially was pressing for a felony conviction and jail time. No kidding.

I think the dad ended up paying a $75 fine, and it is unclear whether or not he got a felony, or misdeeanor, or any, conviction.

Regards.

Mike
Woodinville

ok finally found the link

http://www.nwnews.com/editions/20020805/nnfront3.html

The knucklehead was fishing in the Crummy (NOT the Snoho) with bait, during a no-bait season. What did he honestly expect????

Ignorance, is no excuse for the law. Toss the book at him.

Damn whiners.

According to the article,the prosecutor waived the jail term.200 bucks and a few hours of community service do not seem too harsh.The permanent criminal record might be a little harsh,though.Maybe he pissed the prosecutor off by refusing to accept responsibilty for his actions.

Blaming the guy that sold him worms?I guess it's not a snaggers fault for using trebles because they are legal to purchase also.

This story seems to be the result of "tabloid" journalism,work up the readership without boring them with the complete story.

About the only value of the story was to observe Toby Nixon's willingness to jump on the bandwagon.

They should throw the book at him.

I was there when the game warden gave a guy a ticket for fishing Pilchuck creek with worms. Not only was he fishing with worms,but he had about 5 trout or should I say smolts/parr about 5" long on a stick. When most people get their fishing licenses they also get a copy of the regs and then they read them. I hope they do.

When you go fishing you should know where you are going and what is legal.

Alright! Throw the book at that S.O.B. How dare he use worms in no-bait water! (Extreme sarcasm). Dear lord, give me a break! Is that the very best our Game Wardens can do? Bust a guy for using worms in no-bait waters while he's trying to show his kid how to fish and then turn the whole thing into a dog and pony show by trying to press the case as a felony?! Hey, here's an idea for Law enforcment officers in general..... How about going after some REAL Criminals for a change?

I say, "Throw the book at 'em." This would be a great example for others to learn by. At least some of the sorry a$$ poachers are getting caught!

Reminds me of a near ticket my buddy and I got last June. We were fishing Johnson Pt. He had just landed a nice Blackmouth and was starting to bleed the fish when the Gamie pulls alongside. She starts to recite the "immediately upon catching a legal fish...catch record card." From the time I netted the fish, to the time we bled the fish, was no more than three minutes. She was alongside with a minute after that that... Pretty anal if you ask me, but I when she saw our CRCs, she know that we record our fish. He got a stern written warning... me too! I owned the boat....

Downriggin'

I hear ya ZO. How dare those game wardens write tickets to folks breakin' the law. Makes it awful tough to line salmon and poach game outta season don't it.

they gave a written warning 3 minutes out of the net? i would honestly crinkle it up and throw it to the floor in front of there face!!! ive had cops threaten to put me under arrest, blah blah blah, like this ruston cop looks at my club between my seat and asks if i like baseball and im like, whats he talking about then he goes im looking at that concealed weapon right there..i say you can see it cant you, so he gave me a warning to get my tire fixed...had nothing on me...jus scare tactics...**berkley boy**

Yeah 4salt, We won't get into the lining and the poaching issues.... You obviously already know where I sit on the fish lining issue. Fact of the matter is, we've got guys making Meth in portable labs all over the countryside, we've got people getting robbed left and right, peoples rigs are getting broken into, little girls are being kidnapped and killed everytime I turn on the news, the court wants to try a "bait in a no-bait area" case as a felony?! Yeah, using bait in a no-bait area is wrong if you go by the letter of the law, but is it a felony? Look at it this way, you can typically plead a first or even a second offense for drug possession down to a misdemeanor. Even most cases of theft can be pled down. All I'm saying is that with all the really BAD things that are going on out there and with all the truly BAD people out there, it was extremely petty and in my opinion, unprofessional of the Prosocuting Attorney to even think about shooting for a felony conviction on something as frivolous as a "bait in a no-bait area" case. My problem lies more with the prosocuter than with the arresting officer.... Sure, if you really want to be a total tighta$$ about it, then give the guy a ticket, but the whole situation should never have gone as far as it did.

Yeah, I agree that the prosecution probably went a little overboard with this, and it seems that the media coverage was sensationalized as well. However, why couldn't the father teach his son to fish in a lake that was OPEN to fishing with bait? Also, we're talking GAME WARDENS here. At what point did they start chasing murderers and child molesters around? They enforce GAME LAWS!

Dude, why is it that only people that are continually looking to get away with something are the ones that complain about law enforcement? If ABIDING by the law, makes me a tightass, Hey, I can live with that.

Defense's case

"Live bait your Honor seems to be the reason for the ticket. So I ask__when is a worm considered to be dead bait? Just because it wiggles, does that mean it is still alive--its got a damn hook impaled from it's head and out it's arse____your Honor"

"throw the book at em" pretty harsh. Im sure you drive 60mph because its posted. If your going 61 you are asking to have the book thrown at you.Im sure you have never hooked kings out of season and have never taken pictures and posted them, eh. This went a wee bit too far, Im sure most would agree. This kid is probably traumatized and will freak on the site of a worm. "nooooo Daaaaaddy--" With a hand slap the Dad, the kid would have a lesson learned experience. I have seen much worse on the river that time of an F&W officer could write tickets.

I am not looking to get away with anything but I sure have a couple of complaints about law enforcement for ya. :p

Prosecutors Case:

Here are the facts:

Dude takes his kid fishing and uses worms provided at local tackle shop.

Dude, who can't read, and is "ignorant", ignores the bait ban and catches some "trout", ie smolts. Nice bonding experience for Jr. Watch Daddy break the law.

Here's are the facts that my crack team of forensics officers (ie, me) just uncovered. Thank Glub for CSI, as they learned a lot from that show!

Dude cutplugs the trout and catches some ESA SnoCrummy King Salmon. Or, if cutplug smolts are not working, he wrapps his K-15's with smolt fillets.

Dude cutplugs the ESA Kings and uses them to fish for the local SnoCrummy ESA Taimen.

Dude takes the ESA Taimen, sticks an Owner 19/0 hook in it's back and uses it to lure in the ESA SnoCrummy White Shark.

ESA White Sharks eats his kid (ever see Jaws? It could happen!).

Dude cashes in the $7,634 life insurnace policy he took out against his kid. Takes the money and runs away with his neighbors wife's sister...which was later proven, by DNA experts, to be his Mother's cousins sister.

Fortunately, we now know the real truth, as Jr. is still alive, and this evil plot was unfoiled by heroic WDFW officers.

I, for one, call poaching ESA fish, attempted murder, and racketeering a "felony". I'd be willing to plea-bargain down to a $75 fine, though.

OK Parker that was funny!!!!

Thanks to Parker and ZoZo for adding a little perspective....
DFW new priorities:
Cig butts thrown overboard or on the ground? 20 days community service picking up litter.
Tow rig out of compliance (use of fog lights on public roads, bumpers above max height allowance, seen blocking left lane on freeway)? Immediate impoundment and straight into the crusher.
Two-stroke motor running a little rich? Ditto.
Laws are laws, by God!
Ignorance (Stupidity) should hurt.(Props to Leadthrower)

One problem with your theory though 'chrome, ignorance and stupidity ARE NOT the same. If you don't know any better, you are ignorant. If you know better and do it anyway, you are STUPID.

p.s. Parker, you've been watching a lot of Court TV lately huh? :p

Discretion.

Although I appreciated Parker's response the most - for entertainment value, I think the F&W agent could have done a better job exercising discretion. Agents meet all kinds, and I think they develop a reasonable sense and ability to detect the truly clueless from those who just don't give a damn about the fishing regulations. In this case, a father with a son with a Snoopy fishing pole seems to be a likely candidate for the clueless catagory who probably had no idea he was breaking the law, and who possibly wouldn't or couldn't understand why there would be such a law. Unless there is more to the story than we've been told, it appears this might have been the time and place for the F&W agent to explain the regulation, and why such a regulation is important, and just issue the guy a written warning (written, so that he understands it really is a state offense and carries potentially severe penalties) and let it go at that. If we ended up to two more informed citizens and anglers that day, then the agent's mission might have been well done.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.